Systems and methods for controlling longitudinal acceleration based on lateral objects

Abstract

Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer program products for controlling acceleration of a vehicle. The methods comprising: detecting, by a computing device, a lateral distance from a point on a trajectory of the vehicle to a first object the vehicle is expected to pass when following the trajectory, the first object being located off of and to a side of the trajectory and the point representing a future location of the vehicle while passing the first object; selecting, by the computing device, whether acceleration limiting is to be performed by the vehicle based on the lateral distance; obtaining an amount by which the acceleration of the vehicle is to be limited, when a selection is made that acceleration limiting is to be performed by the vehicle; and causing, by the computing device, the vehicle to perform operations for autonomous driving with limiting of acceleration by the obtained amount.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for controlling acceleration of a vehicle, comprising:
 detecting, by a computing device, a lateral distance from a point on a trajectory of the vehicle to a first object the vehicle is expected to pass when following the trajectory, the first object being located off of and to a side of the trajectory and the point representing a future location of the vehicle while passing the first object; 
 selecting, by the computing device, whether acceleration limiting is to be performed by the vehicle based on the lateral distance; 
 obtaining an amount by which the acceleration of the vehicle is to be limited, when a selection is made that acceleration limiting is to be performed by the vehicle; and 
 causing, by the computing device, the vehicle to perform operations for autonomous driving with limiting of acceleration by the obtained amount. 
 
     
     
       2. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the obtaining comprises:
 defining an interval with a first end located a pre-defined distance from the first object and a second opposing end located the pre-defined distance from the first object; 
 obtaining a distance between the first object and each index point of the trajectory within the interval; 
 obtaining a desired acceleration for each said index point of the trajectory based on the respective one of the distances; and 
 selecting the smallest value from the desired accelerations for limiting acceleration of the vehicle. 
 
     
     
       3. The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the desired acceleration is obtained using a look-up table comprising a plurality of different acceleration values that are indexed by a plurality of different distance values. 
     
     
       4. The method according to  claim 2 , further comprising adjusting the smallest value based on a class of the object. 
     
     
       5. The method according to  claim 4 , wherein the smallest value is adjusted by a first amount when the object is associated with a first class and by a second different amount when the object is associated with a second different class. 
     
     
       6. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the vehicle is expected to additionally pass a second object and the obtaining further comprises:
 for each of the first and second objects,
 defining an interval with a first end located a pre-defined distance from the first or second object and a second opposing end located the pre-defined distance from the first or second object; 
 obtaining a distance between the first or second object and each index point of the trajectory within the interval; 
 obtaining a desired acceleration for each said index point of the trajectory based on the respective one of the distances; 
 
 selecting a smallest value from the desired accelerations for the first and second object at each index point of the trajectory; and 
 generating at least one resultant acceleration value using the selected smallest values. 
 
     
     
       7. The method according to  claim 6 , wherein the at least one resultant acceleration value is generated by a machine learning algorithm that is trained to generate resultant acceleration values based on context information derived from sensor data. 
     
     
       8. The method according to  claim 7 , wherein the context information comprises at least one of a relative location of vehicle and the first object, a relative location of the vehicle and the second object, a position of vehicle, a position of first object, a position of the second object, the trajectory, a predicted trajectory for the first object, a predicted trajectory for the second object, a classification of the first object, a classification of the second object, a direction of travel for the vehicle, a direction of travel for the first object and a direction of travel for the second object. 
     
     
       9. The method according to  claim 6 , further comprising adjusting the at least one resultant acceleration value based on at least one of a classification of the first object and a classification of the second object. 
     
     
       10. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the selecting is further based on whether the first object is located entirely inside a non-drivable area for the vehicle and at an edge of a drivable area for the vehicle, whether the first object is located partially inside a drivable area for the vehicle, or whether the first object is a moving object biased in a drivable area for the vehicle. 
     
     
       11. A system, comprising:
 a processor; 
 a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising programming instructions that are configured to cause the processor to implement a method for controlling acceleration of a vehicle, wherein the programming instructions comprise instructions to:
 detect a lateral distance from a point on a trajectory of the vehicle to a first object the vehicle is expected to pass when following the trajectory, the first object being located off of and to a side of the trajectory and the point representing a future location of the vehicle while passing the first object; 
 select whether acceleration limiting is to be performed by the vehicle based on the lateral distance; 
 obtain an amount by which the acceleration of the vehicle is to be limited, when a selection is made that acceleration limiting is to be performed by the vehicle; and 
 cause the vehicle to perform operations for autonomous driving with limiting of acceleration by the obtained amount. 
 
 
     
     
       12. The system according to  claim 11 , wherein the amount by which the acceleration of the vehicle is to be limited is obtained by:
 defining an interval with a first end located a pre-defined distance from the first object and a second opposing end located the pre-defined distance from the first object; 
 obtaining a distance between the first object and each index point of the trajectory within the interval; 
 obtaining a desired acceleration for each said index point of the trajectory based on the respective one of the distances; and 
 selecting the smallest value from the desired accelerations for limiting acceleration of the vehicle. 
 
     
     
       13. The system according to  claim 12 , wherein the desired acceleration is obtained using a look-up table comprising a plurality of different acceleration values that are indexed by a plurality of different distance values. 
     
     
       14. The system according to  claim 12 , wherein the programming instructions further comprise instructions to adjust the smallest value based on a class of the object. 
     
     
       15. The system according to  claim 14 , wherein the smallest value is adjusted by a first amount when the object is associated with a first class and by a second different amount when the object is associated with a second different class. 
     
     
       16. The system according to  claim 11 , wherein the vehicle is expected to additionally pass a second object and the amount by which the acceleration of the vehicle is to be limited is obtained by:
 for each of the first and second objects,
 defining an interval with a first end located a pre-defined distance from the first or second object and a second opposing end located the pre-defined distance from the first or second object; 
 obtaining a distance between the first or second object and each index point of the trajectory within the interval; 
 obtaining a desired acceleration for each said index point of the trajectory based on the respective one of the distances; 
 
 selecting a smallest value from the desired accelerations for the first and second object at each index point of the trajectory; and 
 generating at least one resultant acceleration value using the selected smallest values. 
 
     
     
       17. The system according to  claim 16 , wherein the at least one resultant acceleration value is generated by a machine learning algorithm that is trained to generate resultant acceleration values based on context information derived from sensor data. 
     
     
       18. The system according to  claim 17 , wherein the context information comprises at least one of a relative location of vehicle and the first object, a relative location of the vehicle and the second object, a position of vehicle, a position of first object, a position of the second object, the trajectory, a predicted trajectory for the first object, a predicted trajectory for the second object, a classification of the first object, a classification of the second object, a direction of travel for the vehicle, a direction of travel for the first object and a direction of travel for the second object. 
     
     
       19. The system according to  claim 16 , wherein the programming instructions further comprise instructions to adjust the at least one resultant acceleration value based on at least one of a classification of the first object and a classification of the second object. 
     
     
       20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores instructions that is configured to, when executed by at least one computing device, cause the at least one computing device to perform operations comprising:
 detecting a lateral distance from a point on a trajectory of the vehicle to a first object the vehicle is expected to pass when following the trajectory, the first object being located off of and to a side of the trajectory and the point representing a future location of the vehicle while passing the first object; 
 selecting whether acceleration limiting is to be performed by the vehicle based on the lateral distance; 
 obtaining an amount by which the acceleration of the vehicle is to be limited, when a selection is made that acceleration limiting is to be performed by the vehicle; and 
 causing the vehicle to perform operations for autonomous driving with limiting of acceleration by the obtained amount.